Telefónica aims to be largest Spanish TV producer

In a move to compete directly with SVoD services like Netflix, HBO and Amazon, Spanish broadcaster Telefónica is aiming to become a big player in the TV production industry.

Accordingly, the company has announced the production of 14 TV Series with an annual investment of €100 million, a €30 million increase on 2016. In 2017 four TV series will be released, among them – La Peste with a budget of €10 million and in 2018 the other ten.

The president of Telefónica, Luis Miguel Gilperez, said he hopes that over the next few years Spain will become a great audiovisual production hub in Spanish, and above all in 4K.

In his opinion, there is no competition with Netflix or HBO as Telefónica’s platform Movistar Plus is the country’s market leader with a library of 16,000 different titles.

Miguel Gilperez highlighted the importance of Movistar Plus in boosting the pay-TV market; “In Spain, we are in a (pay-TV) penetration of 33 per cent, still far away from other countries and our contribution to this growth is significant as we have 3.7 million clients with a market share of 66 per cent”, he explained.